Many students have noticed the new and colorful French Quarter apartments located along Second Street. The University broke ground in October of 2019 and managed to complete enough of the project to have students moving in by the start of Fall 2020 classes. The apartments aren’t all the way finished, but so far they are an eye-catching addition to Vincennes University. 

The inspiration for these apartments came from the French Quarters in New Orleans. The buildings are vibrant and have a vintage appeal to them. One of the architects behind this idea was Phil Rath. He wanted to create a natural, healthy environment that was not a traditional color or design. Rath sadly died from cancer last summer, but his memory and ideas will live on. 

Andrew W. Young, the Director of Architectural Services and Facilities at VU, confirmed that each apartment has its own bathroom, walk-in closet, kitchen, laundry room, and balcony. Apartments also come with basic appliances like a fridge, stove, microwave and dishwasher. 

“It’s a very different independent style of living,” Young said.

One student, Jonathan Danz, has been living in the French Quarter for a few weeks now. Danz is a Broadcasting major from Beech Grove and enjoys living in the apartments over the dorms. He likes the design of the buildings and enjoys the space and freedom that comes with having an apartment. 

“The privacy is good as well, the apartment itself is actually pretty big. I’m sure the area around the apartments will look better once the construction is done,” Danz said.   

The buildings should be complete within the next week. Young mentioned they plan to add more plants and trees around the area. They’re also adding a new fountain and bike storage for the students. All of this site work should be complete within three weeks. Then they plan to move on to phase two of the project. 

There will be four additional apartment buildings off First Street, across from phase one. The buildings will have a similar style to the French Quarter but have a different layout. They started moving dirt last week and plan to start the foundation very soon. Young says he is excited to see these projects coming together and can’t wait for the outcome.